Driving up the coast from Goleta, just before Gaviota State Beach, you may notice this rock wall surrounded by pine trees off to the right. It doesn’t look like much today, but these are the few remnants that are left of a grand plan that just wasn’t meant to be. These old iron […]
World War II brought a lot of changes to our world, and Goleta was no exception. Our little airport served as the backdrop for a Marine air station that served as a training base for multiple squadrons that went on to support combat operations in the Pacific Theater. This sleepy little agriculture […]
When we think of Goleta pier, this is what we think of. It’s one of Goleta’s main attractions, popular with fisherman, tourists and locals. But most folks don’t know that it wasn’t the first pier Goleta had. Goleta’s first pier was down the beach about a half a mile. It […]
Tuckers Grove. One of Santa Barbara and Goleta’s favorite parks for parties, picnics and club gatherings. Every local knows it well and maybe we even take it a little for granted. But it could have been just another neighborhood if not for some proactive citizens that got up and took […]
This is Daniel Hill. Born in 1797, he was just another farm boy in Boston, Massachusetts. But by the time he was a teenager, he had been lured to the sea and by the time he was 25, he was first mate on a ship traveling around the world. This eager […]
Goleta is a unique place. We are surrounded by the beautiful Santa Ynez Mountains on one side and the blue Pacific Ocean on the other. The steep mountains run into the sea at Gaviota and Rincon, isolating us from the outside world. This was a predicament for the first European […]
Editor’s Note– “Around 1965, my mother took a carload of kids along with her to go grocery shopping at her favorite store in town, the 101 Ranch Market. After shopping, she loaded the kids back into the car and headed home. As she pulled into her driveway out in Ellwood, one […]
Ever notice these signs along the side of the freeway? El Camino Real means The Royal Highway in Spanish and it was created by the Spaniards to get between the missions throughout California. Originally, the Camino Real was just a footpath, but in 1859 the Overland Mail Company started a campaign […]
What is the oldest building in the Goleta Valley? Most folks have never heard of it, or have any idea of its existence. But this little building played a major role in the history of Goleta, the success of the Santa Barbara Mission and the wine industry of California. Nestled […]
Most folks know what Pampas Grass looks like. It volunteers all around Goleta. It pops up in empty fields, at the beach, alongside the freeway, and even on the side of cliffs. But do you know where it came from and how it got spread all over Goleta? This would […]
Sign the petition to save the Old Ellwood Gas Station from destruction by decay. Click Here.
If you lived in Goleta in the late 60’s and early 70’s, you may remember seeing these almost comical looking aircraft flying around, but do you know they served a very serious purpose and helped man land on the moon? They were called Guppies, and their story is quite interesting. It […]
Next time you’re at Goleta Beach, look towards UCSB and notice the dark rock formation at the base of the bluffs. This lovely location once was the scene of blood and carnage, all in the name of commerce. A shore whaling station was located here for about twenty years starting […]
At 7 PM on Feb. 23, 1942, Goleta residents were settling in to listen to President Franklin Roosevelt’s Fireside Chat on the radio. The Japanese had just attacked Pearl Harbor two and a half months earlier and tensions were high for folks living on the coast. Meanwhile, a 365 foot long Japanese […]
If you ever walk from Haskells Beach towards Santa Barbara, you probably have noticed the hillside below Sandpiper golf course has a large, unruly patch of cactus growing on it. We’ve always seen it there, but never really thought much about it. We figured the oil companies planted it to […]
A funny thing happened. I got a phone call from Jay Allen saying he had an old photo of Goleta he wanted to give me. I was honored and said heck yes, I’d love to see it. The next day, I get an email from Rob Evans. He too had […]
If you spend any time at all on the beaches of Goleta, you know what tar is. Some days it’s plentiful other days, there isn’t any. Surprisingly, a lot of people don’t understand why it’s there. Lots of folks assume it’s due to the big oil rigs out in the channel, […]
August 13, 1978. A sunny Sunday afternoon in the Goleta Valley. Somewhere underneath the Santa Barbara Channel, the earth shifted abruptly, causing a magnitude 5.2 earthquake. The initial rupture started on an offshore fault, south of the city of Santa Barbara, at a depth of about 5.5 miles. The earthquake […]
Most folks know there’s a stretch of the Gaviota Coast that’s referred to as Naples. But do they know how it got this name? It was first called Naples all the way back in 1887, by a wealthy world traveler named John H. Williams and his wife Alice. They had a […]
When you’re driving out to Campus Point, you may not even notice this obscure little hill. But before World War II, this lump of dirt was a sizeable island and in ancient times it had a huge, thriving Chumash village on it. The purple line shows the area that was […]